Editor’s Notebook: Band Sizes & Major Champs./ Florida Academy/ Balvenie Medal/ D Naill Prices/ Military Tunes

The RSPBA should be in no doubt about the concern out there as regards the ‘Missing Majors’ and band sizes. The comments keep coming in to PP. Unfortunately the recent ones are all anonymous, so of course the impact is lessened. People complain of the lack of transparency at the Association then they correspond anonymously! I think they believe their band will suffer if they go public with their thoughts….

The Missing Majors, Band Sizes, and the Need for an Earlier AGM

Pressure is growing on the RSPBA for an announcement regarding the 2024 ‘missing majors’. The statement published yesterday on PP about the easement of band numbers referenced the major championships and this has given rise to some optimism that there may well be progress afoot. However nothing has been confirmed and we remain in limbo with only two championships, the Scottish at Dumbarton on July 27, and the Worlds at…

RSPBA Keep Minimum Size for Bands/ EUSPBA Winners/ Oban & Inverness

For the 2024 outdoor season the RSPBA are to continue with the lower minimum numbers of players in bands first introduced after the pandemic. They say that some bands continue to struggle for player numbers post pandemic and without the minimum sizes some might be faced with having to withdraw from a competition if members fall ill.  Minimums in Grade 1 for major and minor contests will be eight pipers,…

Pipe Major George Lumsden 1926 -2024

George Lumsden, one of the former Pipe Majors of the Lothian and Borders Police Pipe Band, has died. He was in his 98th year and was being cared for in a nursing home. George was a native of Fife where he first learned his piping. A was also keen amateur boxer and a keep fit enthusiast throughout his long life. He was one of the young pipers recruited by the legendary…

Editor’s Notebook: Forfar Burgh Pipe Band/ Ivory Pipes/ Florida P&D Academy/ Ardmore Cup/ MoP Royalties

A contact of mine called Mike Croft is putting together an exhibition in the Meffan Institute, Forfar, on the history of pipe bands in the area. He is a former drummer in the Forfar Burgh Pipe Band, writes Tom Peterkin  In its day, it was a pretty good band rising through the grades to Grade One – probably in the 1960s. Although I did not play with the band, he has been…